Impact of community well‐being on individual well‐being: A longitudinal multinational study with 155 countries

The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the longitudinal relationship between subjective community well‐being (CWB) (perception of freedom of choice and social support) and subjective individual well‐being (IWB) (positive and negative affect). Using the World Happiness Report (2019), this study examined the subjective IWB and subjective CWB among 155 countries across an 8‐year period. Using Latent Class Growth Analysis the results indicated that the 155 countries could be classified into three groups—countries reporting high freedom of choice and high social support, low freedom of choice and low social support, and low freedom of choice and high social support. From the results of both a multigroup Growth Mixed Model and a Growth Curve Model, the three groups were found to vary with respect to positive and negative affect with higher positive affect and lower negative affect reported in countries classified as high freedom of choice and high social support, lower positive affect and higher negative affect reported in countries classified as low freedom of choice and low social support, and lower positive and lower negative affect reported in countries classified as low freedom of choice and high social support. These results indicate that country's rated as allowing higher freedom of choice was associated with higher reported positive affect, and country's rated as having stronger social support systems was associated with lower ratings for negative affect.